search
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Old French cerchier, from Latin circare.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to search (third-person singular simple present searches, present participle searching, simple past and past participle searched)
- (transitive) To look throughout (a place) for something. To try and find something.
- I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
- (intransitive) (followed by "for") To look thoroughly.
- The police are searching for evidence in his flat.
- (transitive, obsolete) To probe or examine (a wound).
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I:
- ther they refresshed hem as wel as they myght, and made leches serche theyr woundys and sorowed gretely for the dethe of her peple [...].
- 1588, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, II.3:
- Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I:
[edit] Synonyms
- (transitive: look throughout (a place) for something): comb, scour
- (intransitive: look thoroughly): look for, seek, comb, scour
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from search (verb)
[edit] Translations
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
search (plural searches)
- An attempt to find something.
- With only five minutes until we were meant to leave, the search for the keys started in earnest.
- The act of searching in general.
- Search is a hard problem for computers to solve efficiently
